Gena Rowlands, the longtime wife of and collaborator with John Cassavetes, died in August at age 94. With an assist from the Guild Cinema, we are (re)viewing some of her foundational films.
MINNIE AND MOSKOWITZ (1971) (A-minus) - Somehow John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands found joy in the brutality of men and the recklessness of being in relationships with them. And, yes, like the films in our previous entry, Rowlands gets knocked around again, and at the hands of Cassavetes' character, a soulless married man who is stringing along her Minnie, who definitely needs a reset in her love life. (And what's with saddling Rowlands with names like Minnie, Mabel and Myrtle?)
But the woman is resilient, and here she gives a soulful, layered performance. Minnie doesn't have her meet-cute with Moskowitz (Seymour Cassel) until at least a half hour into this shaggy-dog tale (and even then, it's not very cute). He is parking cars at a restaurant where she has just had a miserable blind date with a vain jerk prone to outbursts (a hilarious, menacing turn by Val Avery, who is also in "Faces"). Moskowitz offers her a getaway in his beat-up pickup truck, where he proves himself to be a more charming type of loudmouth. With his long ponytail and Yosemite Sam mustache, he displays Jethro Bodine moves, using his brute wiles to wear down his love interest.
This is an old-fashioned story about an aggressive man essentially bullying a woman into loving him. But Minnie is no pushover. Their dates go haywire, but each of them is improbably drawn to the other's je ne sais quoi. Each is damaged but not irrevocably so. Amid everything, Rowlands and Cassel are very funny together.
This is one of Cassavetes' strongest scripts. The dialogue is sharp and the narrative holds together as he careens along curves. He stages several set pieces as showcases for outre characters, each with a chip on their shoulder. Moskowitz's first scene is in a diner, featuring a five-minute dialogue with Tim Carey's depressed middle-aged man who has opinions on every topic that pops up in a stream of non-sequiturs. Avery, as Zelmo the lunch date, is riveting as the loquacious loser on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Toward the end, Cassavetes' mom, Katherine, has a cameo as Moskowitz's stereotypical Jewish mother, spewing putdowns of her layabout son. As usual, Katherine Cassavetes threatens to steal her son's movie.
But the through line involves the pas de deux between Rowlands and Cassel riffing through that quintessential '70s drift. The film is consistently entertaining, whether the viewer is laughing or cowering, all the while holding on during a wild ride.
FACES (1968) (B) - Rowlands has to share screen time here as a supporting player in a bifurcated story of a couple whose coincidental midlife crises mark the unraveling of their marriage. Rowlands plays a high-end call girl who romps with the husband, while the wife has her own fling in the movie's second half (with a young surfer dude played by Cassel, whose character never overlaps with Rowlands').
John Marley -- who a few years later would famously wake up with a horse's head in his bed in "The Godfather" -- dominates as businessman Richard Forst, who escapes his loveless marriage and falls for Rowlands' cute Jeannie. The first half is dominated by an extended scene in which Forst must compete for the attention of Jeannie and her housemate with two other crass businessmen on the prowl, including Val Avery (see above). It's a prototypical Cassavetes extended scene of debauchery, a seemingly improvised acting exercise where revelers booze and smoke, tell jokes, sing standards, dance like clods, and engage in loud horseplay (see also, "Husbands"). Cassavetes' camera gets all up in his characters' faces, often positioning it from Jeannie's perspective. (This review has a nice description of the ensemble style, referring to the cast as "guerrilla thespians.")
The secret weapon here is newcomer Lynn Carlin (who had been Robert Altman's secretary) as Richard's wife, Maria, who also has had it with her mate. On a girls' night out (at the famous LA haunt the Whiskey a Go-go) she and her gal-pals bring home Cassel's Chet, a good-time guy who targets Maria for seduction. The second half is dominated by a set-up mirroring the first half, this time with married women canoodling with their boy toy. Carlin and Cassel sizzle with chemistry -- he is a raw performer, and she brings fresh energy to every moment she is on screen.
It all crescendos with a classic love-triangle confrontation, featuring more yelling and physical harm. But it is the final shot of ordinary domestic indifference that is most chilling. Cassavetes' camera finally pulls back for a static long shot, itself worth the price of admission.
BONUS TRACK
From "Faces," Jimmy Reed with "Life Is Funny":
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